Batteries show fully charged on Dashboard and using a volt meter on each battery shows each on ~13V when tested. Batteries are about 2 years old.
Symptom: It will start out and run up to only about 15 mph and start to die to a dead stop. I have set on charge the entire night with same result.
There are no error codes. Other threads mention, possible issues, of the throttle assembly, controller or motor.
If you have experienced this in the past and know where to look, I would appreciate any help.
The puzzling thing is that I keep the car plugged in and we use it regularly. It was running fine one day then the next day this occurred. There was no degradation of batteries appearing to get weaker it just dropped off, which leads me to believe it may be something else.
How do I “Brake Load” test? Batteries all fully charged, I went about 100 ft it died and reread every battery individually. They all started around 12.5V and tested like 12.4V after it died.
Could you please explain what a brake load test is? Thanks for your help.
You can buy 12v battery load testers for pretty cheep $20. You hook it up and flick a switch and it places a load on the battery and it will tell you the battery’s strength.
A bad battery can fool you with fake voltage. Example it will show you 12.8 volts but as soon as you place a load on it, the battery will fall on its face. So don’t place all your faith in the Volt meter. It’s only 1 indication of a Battery’s health.
A brand new battery should but up over 600 cold cranking amps. So if you test all your battery’s they should be up in the 600 CCA Range the one that’s low is the culprit. Good luck. Also you may want to have the battery’s refreshed or restored. Find a local guy that does battery restoration he can most of the time bring a dead battery back to life
I took a car jack to raise front of the GEM up and took one tire ramp (Looks like a wedge you drive your car onto, you put one under each tire of the car when you want to work under it in the driveway), and put that under the middle of the front of the GEM which kept both tires off the ground. I had someone put in forward and press the gas pedal and I tested each battery individually while the front tires were moving.
Does that not work for getting a true “Load reading”? I have not done this before so I am using dumb logic on what a Load test means. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
You need to draw 150-200 amps to get a good test. More is better.
Spinning the wheels won’t put much of a load on them.
A load tester does the same and reads the amps. As Grant suggested.
OK. I bought a 12 V battery load tester. I tested all batteries individually under load and they show as fine. Is it possible there is an issue with my controller or engine? Thanks.
Put your volt meter on 1 battery hold your foot on the brake HARD and push the throttle for 2 seconds and note the voltage. Do all 6 batteries. The dud will show up.
I have this same issue. I have taken the individual batteries to a battery store for testing. All test within specs. I have been recently wondering if it could be the accelerator assembly.
What does it do after 100 yards and what happens when you let off the throttle pedal completely and then push on it again?
Another thing to do is remove the dashboard, clip a volt meter across the speed controller inputs and drive while watching your volt meter. Does the voltage quickly sag or stay at full voltage? Do you hear a click when it stops after 100 yards?